Complete probe into cases against BJP netas fast, Bengal police told

KOLKATA: Bengal police have been asked to hasten and complete investigations into certain sensitive cases where names of politicians from opposition parties – most notably BJP – have figured prominently.

The Jorasanko police have decided to summon a former organisational secretary of BJP to examine his alleged role in an LPG dealership scam. Lalbazar, the Kolkata Police HQ, though refused to confirm if the leader was questioned on Wednesday. BJP state leadership too refused to issue any statement on whether any notice has been issued to any of their leaders.

The latest development comes in the wake of Lalbazar instructing the central division to speed up its probe in the LPG dealership scam that had surfaced around eight months ago allegedly involving a few local BJP leaders. Police had arrested a former BJP leader, Ranjeet Majumdar, last September in this case.

The LPG probe, police said, now hinges on all the ‘influential people’ who allegedly helped the accused run the scam. Majumdar is accused of duping several party sympathisers on the promise of providing LPG dealerships under a Union government scheme. An SIT had been investigating the case for the past six months after receiving a complaint against him.

Sources said top CID officers too have been instructed to ‘closely monitor’ the final phase of investigations into the Jalpaiguri child trafficking case, where a preliminary chargesheet had already named BJP women’s wing general secretary Juhi Chowdhury as an accused. A central leader and a local woman leader of BJP have been already quizzed in this connection. “The probe is at an important juncture and we are taking legal opinion before charting the next course of action,” claimed a source.

Another senior state BJP leader, who received a breather after Calcutta high court stayed proceedings against him, was arrested on January 14 on charges of receiving money from some youths with promises to provide them teaching jobs. “We will take all these cases to their logical conclusion,” said an IPS officer of the state police.

BJP though has claimed that their leaders are being implicated because they have been demanding a fair probe in Ponzi cases. “Police have become a tool in the hands of the ruling TMC. We will come clean in all cases,” a BJP spokesperson said.